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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 2001)
Page A4 December 19, 2001 ®l|c 'Jßarthmä (ßhamier Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views (©baerüer Video Images Galvanize Public Opinion Wtje ^larttanh (©bseruer Like others in history, Osama bin Laden videotape brings reality home to Americans USPS 959-680 Established 1970 s TA FF E d it o r P C in h ie f , u b l is h e r Charles H. Washington E d it o r Larry J. Jackson, Sr. B M u s in e s s anager Gary Ann Taylor A sst . P ublisher Michael Leighton C E opy d it o r Joy Ramos C r e a t iv e D ir e c t o r Paul Neufeldt 4 7 4 7 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Portland, OR 97211 503-288-0033 Fax 503-288-0015 e-mail by N ancy B enac T he A ssociated P ress From the grainy, black-and-w hite footage o f President K en n ed y ’s assassination to President Clinton’s videotaped grilling about his affair with M onica Lew insky, the pow er o f the visual im age has often brought reality hom e to A m ericans. N ow , the governm ent has released a tape o f O sam a bin Laden that Bush administration officials say helps fill out a disturbing portrait o f the m an they believe instigated the Sept. 11 attacks. The tape show ed bin L aden, gathered with com panions for a m eal, taking satisfac tion at the extent o f the death and destruction w rought by the terrorists. It was a frightening glimpse into bin Laden’s persona, said Sen. R on W yden, D -O re., w ho saw it before its release T hursday. “T his video w ill open a lot o f ey es,” he said. “The w orld will see that you are dealing with the level o f pathology... that is very, very tw isted and sick.” V isual im ages often have had a profound im pact on the public. “T h e re ’s som ething about the com bina tion o f sight and sound that m akes the infor m ation seem more real,” said Robert Lichter, president o f the nonpartisan C enter for M e dia and Public Affairs. W hen the video o f C linton’s four hours o f testim ony to a federal grand ju ry in 1998 was m ade public, after the release o f the tran script, it gave A m ericans a firsthand look at the way he had parried with prosecutors and dodged questions w ith legalism s. “I think it was his crucifixion, because you saw w hat he w as d o in g ,” said D r. S tuart Suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden (left) is shown in this frame grab from a videotape released by the Department o f Defense. (AP Photo) I This video will open a lot o f eyes...The world will see that you are dealing with the level o f pathology ... that is very, very twisted and sick. —Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. ___________ I F ischoff, a Los A ngeles psychologist and expert on m edia psychology. “It’s one thing to hear about Slick W illie; it’squite another to see him in operation.” W hen Rodney K ing’s beating by Los A n geles police w as captured on video in 1991, the jo ltin g im ages tu rned w hat m ight have been ju st another rep o rt o f brutality into a cause celebre. Racism and police brutality were captured on a $300 video cam era, M ilton G rim es, one o f K ing’s attorneys, later said. “W e’ve spent millions o f dollars trying to prove it exists, and here w e ’ve captured it on tape.” Y et even th at footage w as open to inter pretation. W hen four officers were acquitted at trial, Los A ngeles erupted in riots. T w o o f • the officers w ere later found guilty in federal court o f violating K ing’s civil rights. In m any cases, the way som eone interprets w hat they see “b eco m es an ink b lo t,” said Fischoff. “People will interpret things in ways that are c o n sisten t w ith w h at they w ant to believe.” W hen O .J. S im pson m ade his oft-tele- vised flight from the law in his white B ronco . in 1994, m any people con clu d ed “he w as clearly eluding justice and he must have some thing to hide,” F isch o ff said. A nd yet others- * on his escape route stood and cheered sym pathetically, unsw ayed from their belief in his • innocence. In the tape show n T hursday, bin L aden discussed som e o f the planning that led to the attacks on the W orld T rad e C enter and recalled hearing the results on radio b ro ad casts. “W e calculated in advance the num ber o f casualties w ho w ould be killed based on the positio n o f the to w e r,” he said, but the d e struction exceeded even his “optim istic” ex pectations. Experts said in advance that the pow er o f the tape could be dim inished by the fact that it is in Arabic and needed translation. As it turned out, it was difficult to m atch the translated words with the im ages then on the screen. “ I f y o u c o u ld sim p ly liste n and u n d e r sta n d it d ire c tly , it w o u ld be fa r m ore e m o tio n a l,” F is c h o ff sa id . S till, he said, “V isual im ages tap into the far m ore prim i tiv e p a rt o f th e b ra in , an d h a v e a fa r m ore prim itive reaction.” news@portlandobserver. com subschption@portlandobserver.com ads@portlandobserver. com "^¡BCp Living the Drea/jj " P ostmaster : Send address changes to Join us at our New Location Celebrating The Portland Observer PO Box 3 1 3 7 Portland, OR 9 7 2 0 8 17th Annual Tribute To: Periodical Postage paid in Portland, OR Subscriptions are $6 0 .0 0 per year C D E A D L I N E S FOR ALL SUBMITTED METERIALS: ARTICLES: M onday by 5 p . m . g, Jr. Rev. 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